Aleks and The Ramps @ RRRPerformance Space, Melbourne(01/06/09)

Tue 9th Jun, 2009 in Gig Reviews

If there is any scene that is ‘now’, it’s art school indie pop. Bands like of Montreal, Twi the Humble Feather, and Animal Collective have been getting the blog buzz for the last few months for the last few years, with an experimental sound that an simpleton would define as harmonic pop shredded over shoegaze.

Meanwhile in the inner-city suburbs of Melbourne, Aleks and The Ramps grew a cult following, either bringing the crowd into their world of ridiculous costumes and somewhat out-there music or pissing off the audience with their unrefined style. Celebrating new EP Midnight Believer, Aleks and co brought their gear to Triple R’s studios for an on-air performance which brought column B to column A.

With the crowd either sitting on bean bags or standing up the back, the five piece hit the stage as the sounds of a Fever Ray track fade out. Tonight they have a sixth member playing around with keyboards, Mike Wray whose project Mixylodian will tour with the Ramps in the next month. From the looks of things, the band had raided a Spotlight before getting to East Brunswick. Alek’s shows off a golden sequined top, Denim Owl wears an aquamarine jacket that matches her guitar, and Extreme Wheeze has an unusual take on a referees jersey.

After what seems like forever, the man in the booth finishes reading his announcements, Aleks and The Ramps get started; going on about how there’s too many adjectives. With thirty minutes to play with the band doesn’t spare a second; playing selections off the new EP. Aleks carefully plucks his banjo for Boy Meets Ghost and Destroy The World With Jazz Hands while his band mates provide harmonies, but right as the song is about to end the band decides to throw a change-up and finish it with loud amounts of noise in mass quantity.

In fact, a change-up is what was thrown throughout the thirty minutes on air. Aleks takes up the tambourine, later smashing it on a cymbal. Denim Owl becomes lead vocalist while Aleks provides backup and shows off her teeth numerous times with a smile that illuminates the room. Wheeze runs around the room, playing guitar or pretending to suck a guitar off. It’s stimulating to watch. But it ends, quickly. Or it did for those out there in radio land. Those in the RRR Performance Space were given an extra twenty minutes. Instruments put down; the band headed to the floor and lined up in formation, performing a carefully choreographed dance routine, before running around the audience like complete loons. A few songs later (and a discussion about A1 Bakery) and it was all over. A unique experience, to say the least.

It’s hard to say what will happen to Aleks and The Ramps from here, given the performance space’s audience was made up of people who were already fans of the group. It was an enjoyable one, and given RRR’s wide reception in the radio community it’s fair to say that their fanbase will expand after this show. But just imagine if they saw them in the flesh…